In Brief: HPC; Stairsteady; Hull 2017 Angels; Hainsworth

YORK-based specialist Healthcare Property Consultant HPC has acted on behalf of private investor Mike Bullas in the £11.5m sale of two care home investments to Target Healthcare REIT.

The care homes are situated in St Helens, Merseyside and Longridge near Preston and are leased to Yorkshire-based Orchard Care Homes.

Target is a specialist investor in UK care homes and the acquisition sees its portfolio increase to ten care homes since it listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market in March 2013.

Target were advised by Richard Harris of Vector Property Group throughout the acquisition.

Mr Bullas said: “We are currently involved in rolling out over £25m of new and exciting projects in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the Midlands through our development and operating company, Blue Brick Healthcare.”
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A SHEFFIELD entrepreneur has set her sights on international expansion and a multi-million pound turnover with a business product she developed in her teens.

Ruth Amos designed the Stairsteady handrail after being challenged by her teacher to create a product which allows stroke victims to use stairs independently.
 
Four years on since going into full production, Stairsteady now sells to a range of customers including local authorities, and is on target to distribute 1,000 over the next year. During the next three years, through a combination of UK growth and international expansion, 22-year-old Ms Amos said she aims to increase this figure considerably and take annual sales past £3m.
 
Stairsteady is looking to expand overseas through a series of licensing and distribution agreements and has appointed law firm, Irwin Mitchell, to support and advise her.
 
Kerry Smith, a solicitor from Irwin Mitchell said: “Irwin Mitchell is currently advising Stairsteady on its plan to license its intellectual property rights to a number of overseas-based manufacturers and distributors. This can be a popular route for small businesses with aspirations to expand into new countries, but it can also be difficult for entrepreneurs as they often fear they’ll lose the hands-on management that they have previously had.”
 
Ms Amos said: “The UK market provides significant opportunities for Stairsteady, but I’m keen to ensure Stairsteady taps into other markets and takes full advantage of its intellectual property rights. I want to grow my business in the right way  and this means choosing manufacturers and distributors who share my vision.”
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BUSINESSES from across East Yorkshire have pledged to donate cash to help Hull’s City of Culture bid reach its private-sector sponsorship target.

As “Hull 2017 Angels”, the companies will donate £17,000 for Hull’s City of Culture programme over four years beginning from 2014. The initiative is close to achieving its target of attaining a total of 20 Angels with £238,000 – 70% – already secured.

Jon Pywell, the city lead for the Bid, said: “We have received tremendous support so far for the bid from people and organisations in the area and it is fantastic to receive even more support from the business community. Being the UK City of Culture would deliver significant economic impact for the region and in signing up to the bid’s Hull 2017 Angels initiative, organisations are also helping to support the cultural regeneration of the city.”
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HISTORIC Yorkshire textile manufacturer Hainsworth has helped famous retail chain Cath Kidston to mark its 20th birthday.

Cath Kidston wanted to create a hand-crafted British blanket on which to tell her company’s 20 year history and the limited edition run of 20 Shetland wool blankets have been showcased in selected stores across the country.

A spokesman for Cath Kidston said: “To celebrate our birthday, we transformed our birthday story print into beautiful, handmade blankets to go proudly on show in some of our stores for everyone to see. Only 12 large and eight small blankets were made.

“A number of British companies and talented craftspeople worked with us to make our birthday keepsakes. Inspired by a horse-blanket, the base fabric was made by Hainsworth – a specialist British textile company founded back in 1783 who, with their Royal Warrant, also create the red coat fabric used for the Queen’s Guard uniform.”

Diane Simpson, sales and marketing director at Hainsworth, said: “We really enjoyed working with Cath Kidston to help them celebrate their 20th birthday.”